When we worked on our Global Strategy for foreign and security policy, presented in 2016, we called on Member States to make “full use” of the Agency’s potential. The Strategy set a new level of ambition for European cooperation on defence and acknowledged EDA’s “key role” in developing better and more interoperable capabilities together. What happened in the following months and years was unprecedented. A range of new initiatives were launched to boost defence cooperation through joint planning among Member States, joint research and development, joint training and action. We harnessed the untapped potential of the Lisbon Treaty, and set up a Permanent Structured Cooperation on defence among Member States (PESCO). We launched a Coordinated Annual Review on Defence (CARD). And for the first time, the European Commission created a European Defence Fund (EDF) to incentivise cooperative projects on defence.
EDA made essential contributions to crafting these initiatives all along the way, and now plays a central role in their implementation. The Agency is the secretariat for both CARD and PESCO, together with the European External Action Service and the EU Military Staff. It is also a central operator for EU-funded defence activities. The Agency is today in a unique position to contribute to coherence among the various initiatives, efficiency and a steady focus on our capability priorities.
This is why we have worked to strengthen the Agency so that it can be up for the new task. The Long Term Review that we initiated led to a threefold reinforcement of EDA, which was approved by Defence Ministers in May 2017: the Agency is now recognised as the main intergovernmental instrument to identify shared priorities at EU level on defence capability development; it is the preferred management support structure at EU level for collaborative technology and capability development; and it is the military interface and central operator for EU-funded defence-related activities. It will be essential to ensure that EDA always has the means to fulfil such crucial tasks.
All the progress achieved has only been possible because of a strong political will to move forward. All relevant actors have played their part towards a shared goal – from Member States to the European Commission and Parliament, in close cooperation with the EU Military Committee, the EEAS, the EU Military Staff and EDA. The same strong determination will be necessary in the years ahead. The choice of “making cooperation the norm” will have to be confirmed day-by-day with more concrete action.
The Europe of Defence is taking shape. To get there, the unique expert role of EDA will be even more needed in the future than today.